A Hello and A Goodbye
by 7thheavengirl08
Summary: Get a glimpse into the thoughts of Alaric, Matt, Bonnie, Caroline, Stefan, Damon, and Elena during 8x16 as they say welcome one friend back and say goodbye to another. Just something that came to me as I was watching the series finale.
1. Alaric

A/N: As I was (re)watching the series finale, the idea popped in my head of writing a story about what the various characters were thinking. I wanted to start with Alaric, as I felt that the episode didn't really do him justice. He and Elena were close, and he and Damon were best friends, but I feel like the writers didn't do his relationships with those characters justice, so here's my take on what he was thinking during the episode.

* * *

My heart broke as I left Mystic Falls. This town had become my home and there were so many memories here. It was where Jo died, where my daughters were born, and where I had made so many friends. I hated to leave, especially knowing that Caroline, Damon, Stefan, Matt, and Elena were still there. But I had to think of my girls first. They needed me.

Five years ago, my response would have been different. I would have been there alongside them, fighting for this town and trying to help rescue Elena. But the death of Jo and the birth of my girls had changed me. I couldn't go blindly risking my life anymore, not now that I have two beautiful daughters who depend on me. They've already lost their real mother; they can't lose me, too.

It's not that I don't care. I know to some it must seem that way. I do care. Elena is technically my stepdaughter. I took her and Jeremy in after their Aunt Jenna died, and they would both always hold a special place in my heart. I wish more than anything that there were something I could do to help save her, but there isn't. Damon, Stefan, and Caroline are already doing everything they can. I want to fall apart, to cry for everyone that I've lost and everyone that I now risk losing, but I can't. I have to hold it together for the girls.

My heart broke even more when I demanded that Caroline leave. I know how hard that was for her. Elena is her best friend, and Stefan is her husband. Asking her to leave them, knowing that she would likely never see them again, was difficult. I wanted her to be able to stay, but the girls need her. She's the only mom that they've ever known. They can't lose her; I can't lose her.

I heard it in Bonnie's voice when she asked if I was okay. She knew how hard the decision had been for me, and I know she understood, but I still felt the need to justify myself to her. "It's not that I don't care, you know," I said. "I care about Elena. And I care about Damon. I don't want to fail them, but I can't fail my daughters. And they need their mother."

When Bonnie came up with a plan to destroy Katherine and hell once and for all, I felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe everyone would be okay. This was Mystic Falls, after all. We had all survived things in the past that should have killed us. Maybe this would be the same way. Deep down, though, I knew that at least someone that we cared about wouldn't make it out of this alive, even if the plan worked. Someone had to make sure that Katherine was in hell when it was destroyed.

I heard it in Stefan's voice when we explained the plan to Bonnie. He saw this as his chance at redemption. He was going to play the hero once again. I knew that Damon would try and talk him out of it, of course. But I also knew that Stefan would never let his brother die for him. My heart broke as I realized that this would be the last time I talked to him.

I waited as long as I could to tell Caroline the plan. She and Stefan had just gotten married a few hours before. How was I supposed to tell her that her husband was about to sacrifice himself to save everyone? I knew how much it would hurt her. She had lost so much, but she'd finally found happiness with Stefan. I didn't want to be the one to ruin that happiness for her.

When I told her the plan and she asked me to stop the car, I saw it in her face. She knew that she would never see Stefan again. I listened as she begged Stefan to call her and told him that she understood. My heart hurt as I listened to her tell Stefan that she would love him forever, knowing that forever for a vampire was a very long time. I wanted to comfort her, to tell her that everything would be okay. I remembered how I felt when I lost Jo and just how little words meant to me, so when Caroline got back in the car, I placed my hand on her leg and squeezed it gently. She looked at me and nodded, understanding what I was trying to say.

After what seemed like forever, my phone finally rang. I didn't want to answer it; I didn't even want to look at the caller id. I was scared of who was calling and what the news would be, because no matter what, it would be bad news. The only good thing about the phone call is that it meant Bonnie's plan must have worked, and that someone had survived. I couldn't not answer it, though; I had to know what had happened.

"We did it, Ric. Katherine's dead," Damon's voice told me on the other end of the phone. He sounded different, though. I had never heard such brokenness in his voice before, not even when Kai had put Elena into a coma and linked her life to Bonnie's. That brokenness told me everything, though. Stefan had somehow been successful in convincing his brother to let him be the one to kill Katherine. Stefan was dead.

I looked over at Caroline, knowing that she could hear what was being said. She had buried her face in her hands, sobbing. She knew from the sound of Damon's voice that Stefan was dead. I placed my hand on her back to let her know I was there and then asked, "And Bonnie?"

"She's fine," Damon replied. "She passed out because of how much strength the spell took, but she's fine."

"Is it safe to come home?" I asked Damon, knowing that Caroline needed to be in familiar surroundings right now, knowing that she needed to feel close to Stefan.

"Yes," Damon replied, his voice breaking. "Come on home, Ric. And tell Caroline…" he stopped, trying to regain control over his emotions. "Tell Caroline that I'm sorry, and that I'll be waiting for her. Bonnie and I both will."

The drive back to Mystic Falls was quiet, broken only by the occasional sob breaking free from Caroline despite her efforts to hold them back so as not to worry the girls. When we finally arrived at the Salvatore Boarding House, Matt, Damon, and Bonnie were waiting for us. All three of them looked exhausted and battered, a testament to what they had just gone through.

As soon as the car stopped, Caroline jumped out and flew into Bonnie's arms. Bonnie held Caroline as she wept, Bonnie crying along with her. Despite everything that Stefan had taken from her, I could tell that his death still affected Bonnie. I looked at Damon as he watched his sister-in-law and his best friend mourn his brother. I saw the sorrow in his eyes and instantly knew. He was human. I knew that it had to be Stefan's doing, as Damon would never willingly take the cure from his brother.

After checking to make sure that Lizzie and Josie were still sleeping soundly, I made my way over to where Damon was standing with Matt. "Ric," Damon managed to get out before I pulled him into a hug. For the first time ever, I heard Damon cry. After a few moments, I felt a gentle touch on my arm. It was Caroline. She nodded at me and I stepped back. She and Damon shared a look before he pulled her to him, allowing her to cry with him.

Bonnie came over to me as we watched the brother and sister-in-law mourn Stefan. "I think I can wake Elena up," she shared with me. I know that my face must have shown my surprise, as she hurriedly added, "I don't want to tell Damon or Caroline yet, in case it doesn't work." I nodded. That was good. Neither of them needed any false hope right now, especially Damon. After spending 150 years as a vampire, adjusting to being human would be hard enough on him, especially with Stefan's death.

A couple of days passed and it was time to prepare for Stefan's funeral. Bonnie had been working nonstop on the spell to wake Elena up and she had assured me that she was finally ready. She asked me to let her know when Damon and Caroline left so that she could start the spell. Once Damon and Caroline had left for the cemetery to have a private moment before the funeral, I let Bonnie know and then left to get ready for the funeral and check on the girls, as Bonnie had requested to be left alone while she did the spell.

I don't think the girls completely understand that they would never see their Uncle Stefan again. I had explained it to them, as had Caroline, but I'm not sure they realize that Uncle Stefan is gone for good. There had been a lot of tears shed by all four of us, but I think the girls are still holding out hope that Uncle Stefan will come back again someday. Because of that, Caroline and I felt that it would be best for the girls to stay at home during the funeral. Matt's dad had offered to look after them so that both Caroline and I could be there.

When I arrived at the Salvatore crypt, Damon greeted me. "She's awake, Ric," he informed me. Although his eyes were still filled with sorrow and brokenness, I saw something there that I hadn't seen since before Stefan's death: hope and a glimmer of happiness.


	2. Matt

A/N: Here is Matt's thoughts/point of view during the series finale. Both he and Alaric were hard characters for me to write, but I hope that I've done them justice.

* * *

I couldn't believe this was happening again. Mystic Falls was once again under attack, and once again, I was powerless to stop it. I tried to get Vicki to stop ringing the bell, I really did. But when she told me that she couldn't go back to Hell, I knew it was pointless. Rather than wasting time with her, I called my deputies and told them to sound the evacuation alarm. I hated doing it. It felt like giving up. But I had a duty to protect the citizens of Mystic Falls and this was the best way to do it.

When Stefan told me that he'd found Elena but that she was trapped in the boiler room due to a spell, my heart broke. I knew that there was nothing we could do to get her out of there without Bonnie, and she was too far away to make it back in time to help. Although it had been years since Elena and I had dated and I no longer had feelings for her in that way, she was, no, is, still my friend. There's nothing I can do for her, but I can make her proud by doing everything that I can to save this town. I'm thankful that I was able to say goodbye to her when Kai Parker had spelled her into a coma.

I had resigned myself to Mystic Falls' demise when Bonnie called and told me that they had a plan. It sounded unbelievable, but I knew we had to try. Between the stubbornness of Bonnie and the determination of the Salvatore brothers, maybe we stood a chance of making it out of this alive. For the sake of myself and anyone else still left in this town, I hoped and prayed that this crazy plan worked.

I was surprised that my dad had stayed by my side throughout all of this craziness. While I had become accustomed to it, this was all new to him. Considering what he'd done in the past, I had expected him to run off again, but he had stayed by my side throughout all of it. It was nice to have him there supporting me.

Once the last of the cars had left Mystic Falls, I knew that it was time to say goodbye to Vicki. No matter how this ended, she would still be dead, and I wanted a chance to say goodbye this time. I let my dad go up first, knowing that he would want a couple of minutes alone with her. I followed close behind, wanting to make sure that she wouldn't harm our dad and that she would finish ringing the bell. It felt good to be able to see Vicki again. I think it gave both my dad and me the closure that we needed.

When we came back down from the bell tower, the last of the people had just finished being evacuated. After thanking my deputies for all of their help, I sent them off. They all had families who needed them, and, if this didn't work, I didn't want to be the one responsible for taking them away from them. Besides, if I didn't make it through this, Mystic Falls would need them to help clean up and move on.

As the clock hands moved closer to 10, Dad and I looked up at Vicki for one final goodbye. She was standing in the opening of the bell tower that Damon had thrown her through earlier. Even from where I was standing I could see that she was crying. It was the first time that she had shown any kind of remorse or emotion for what she was about to do. It broke my heart to know that there was nothing I could do to save her.

When the clock struck 10, I watched as Vicki left her place in the opening to give the bell one final ring. I braced myself for what was about to happen. As the bell rang one final time, fire shot out all sides of the bell tower. Dad and I both ducked, preparing ourselves to feel the heat of the hell fire raining down on us, but it never came. We looked up in time to see the fire being sucked back into the tower and down the tunnels. I smiled as I realized that Bonnie was doing it. She was saving Mystic Falls from destruction, even if it meant risking her own life.

Dad and I stood there for a while longer before heading to the school to check on Elena. I was relieved to find that she was still okay. Part of me was also relieved to see that she was still asleep, as that meant that Bonnie was still alive.

After what seemed like forever, we heard footsteps coming down the hall. I told Dad to stay with Elena while I went to see who it was. It was Damon, but not the Damon I knew. This Damon was different. His shoulders were slumped in defeat and he looked exhausted and sorrowful. I had never seen Damon Salvatore like this before, not even when he'd found out that Kai had put a spell on Elena. "Damon?"

"Donovan," Damon replied. "Is Elena…?"

I nodded. "She's okay. What happened, Damon?"

Damon looked up then and I knew that this Damon was not the same one who had gone down into the tunnels. Something had happened down there that had broken him and changed him. "Stefan killed Katherine," Damon said, his voice catching when he said Stefan's name. "I thought I'd compelled him to leave, and he left, but then he came back. He injected me with the cure and pushed me out of the tunnel. He stabbed Katherine." That was when I knew. Stefan was dead. He had sacrificed himself to save everyone else.

Although Stefan and I had had our differences, especially in the past few years, I still felt sadness at his passing. Despite the fact that he was a vampire, I still considered him to be a friend. I had been jealous of him when he first came to Mystic Falls because of his relationship with Elena, but we had eventually grown to be friends. Despite my dislike of Damon, I actually felt sorry for him right now. I know what it's like to lose your only sibling, especially when they're the only real family that you have.

"I'm going to go get Bonnie," Damon informed me. "I haven't heard from her since it all went down and I want to make sure that she's okay." I nodded. I wanted to offer to go with him, but I figured that he needed the time alone.

An hour later, Damon returned with Bonnie. She looked exhausted, but other than that she was fine. "Bonnie!" I exclaimed. I was relieved to see that she was okay. I pulled her into a hug.

"Alaric and Caroline are on their way back," she informed me. "Damon called them from the armory. They're going to meet us at the Salvatore boarding house."

Another wave of sadness washed over me as I thought of Caroline. She and Stefan had just been married a couple of hours earlier and she was already a widow. She had waited so long to be happy and now it was snatched away from her.

"Is Elena still in the boiler room?" Bonnie questioned, interrupting my thoughts. I nodded. "Okay, I'm going to go break the spell so we can get her home."

I put my hand on her arm to stop her. "Bonnie, you're still weak from the last spell. Don't push yourself tonite. Elena will still be here tomorrow."

Bonnie shook her head. "I'm not leaving her here overnight, Matt. Especially not in a boiler room."

To my surprise, Damon stepped in and agreed with me. "Bonnie, you need to rest. She'll be fine here until morning. You won't do her any good if you're half dead. I'll stay here with her until morning and then you can break the spell."

Bonnie shook her head. "No, Damon. I can do this. Let me do it."

I knew there was no sense in arguing with either of them, so the three of us made our way to the boiler room. As soon as Damon saw Elena, he knelt down beside her and gathered her in his arms. "Elena," he breathed, "I'm here."

Once Bonnie had broken the spell I sent my dad back to my place while I went to the Salvatore boarding house with Damon and Bonnie to wait for Caroline and Alaric. When they arrived, Caroline immediately sought comfort in Bonnie's arms. After Alaric checked on the girls, he made his way to where Damon and I were standing. He nodded at me before hugging Damon. For the first time, I heard Damon Salvatore cry. It was all I could do to hold it together as I watched him and Caroline be comforted by their friends. After a few moments, I saw Bonnie whisper something to Caroline who then made her way over to where Damon, Alaric, and I were standing.

"I'm so sorry, Care," I told her as I gave her a brief hug. She gave me a brief smile although I could see the sadness in her eyes. "Thanks, Matt," she replied. She then turned her attention to Alaric and Damon. She reached out and gently touched Alaric on his arm. She nodded once he looked at her and he stepped away, allowing Caroline to take his place in front of Damon. She and Damon shared a look before he wrapped her in his arms, the tears flowing freely from both of their eyes.

The next few days were hard for everyone. They all dealt differently. Damon closed himself in his room and only came out occasionally to get more bourbon, Bonnie was working nonstop on some spell, Caroline threw herself into taking care of everyone else so that she didn't have to deal with her own feelings, and Alaric served as the glue that held everyone together. I dealt with everything by keeping myself busy with preparations to reopen Mystic Falls.

On the day of the funeral I arrived at the Salvatore crypt expecting to see only Damon, Bonnie, Caroline, and Alaric, but instead found that there was an additional person there, someone that I had never expected to see again: Elena Gilbert. Bonnie had somehow broken the spell that Kai had put on Elena.

"Hi, Matt," Elena greeted me, smiling as I stood there tongue-tied, trying to get over the shock of seeing her.

"Elena!" I pulled her into a quick hug. When I'd said goodbye to her six years ago, I never thought that I would see her again, so it was hard to believe that she was actually awake and standing in front of me.

Damon and the others walked up then, cutting short our reunion. There was so much still that I wanted to tell Elena, like the fact that I became a sheriff, just as she had envisioned me, but it would have to wait for later. Right now, it was time to bury and say our last goodbyes to Stefan Salvatore, who had given us all our lives back.


	3. Bonnie

A/N: Wow, this chapter is a lot longer than I expected it would be. I thought that I'd have difficulty writing from Bonnie's perspective, but it ended up being really easy.

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I couldn't believe it when I saw Elena. She looked so peaceful sleeping on that bed in the middle of the woods. I had resigned myself to never seeing her again, but here she was. My heart filled with joy knowing that she would wake up soon and with the knowledge that I would see Enzo again. I couldn't believe it when she opened her eyes and looked at me. "Bonnie?" she asked. "Elena!" I called her name in disbelief.

I was so happy to see her again, but she wouldn't let me dwell on that happiness. "This isn't how it's supposed to be. No, you can't die, not yet. You have to live and grow old and have children and grandchildren." I could tell how upset she was that I was there, but I tried to reassure her that it was okay. I was ready to go, ready to be with Enzo again. I told her that I was ready. "Well, I'm not."

I turned around upon hearing this, certain that I must be hearing things, but I wasn't. "Enzo!" When he reached out his hand I took it and was amazed that I could feel his touch. I wanted to stay there, but I knew I couldn't. I had to go back. It's what Enzo wanted, and it's what Elena wanted.

When I woke up, Stefan and Caroline were there, both looking extremely concerned. I sat up and reached for Caroline. As we hugged each other, I knew that I had to tell them. "I saw her. I saw Elena," I whispered. Stefan's face was filled with a mixture of disbelief and amazement. "She was sleeping on a bed, but then she woke up. She told me that I wasn't supposed to be there, and that I couldn't die yet." Bonnie smiled sadly. Both Caroline and Stefan were smiling as well. I knew how much it meant to them knowing that I had seen Elena and that she was okay.

Caroline and Stefan quickly filled me in on Katherine's plan to burn Mystic Falls with hell fire. They then took me home so that I could start packing, just in case Damon and Matt weren't successful in stopping Vicki. Caroline called Alaric on the way to fill him in and asked him to stop by and pick me up on the way to her place.

When Alaric walked out of Caroline's house without her, I was disappointed, but not surprised. Damon had filled me in on the fact that Katherine had taken Elena's body and hidden it somewhere and that he and Stefan were going to look for her. I knew that Caroline wouldn't leave Stefan or Elena behind unless she absolutely had to. It's just who she is. I tried to reassure Alaric that she would be okay, but I could see the worry in his face. He didn't want to lose Caroline and have to explain to the girls that she was never coming home.

The drive to the armory was filled with silence until the phone call from Caroline and Stefan to tell us that they had found Elena's body but it was spelled into the boiler room at the high school. I felt helpless as I realized that we were too far away to help. I hated admitting that to Caroline and Stefan knowing how much they cared for her. Alaric told Caroline to take the tunnels and get out of there, that the girls needed her.

When we arrived at the armory, Alaric sent the girls off to get changed. I think reality hit him then that our friends wouldn't make it out of this alive. He knows Stefan and Damon well enough to know that neither of them would never leave Elena behind. I could see the guilt on his face about having to leave the three of them behind and about telling Caroline to leave them. "You okay?" I asked.

He opened up to me then, saying that he cares about Elena and Damon and that he doesn't want to fail them, but that he couldn't fail his daughters and that they need their mother. "I know you do," I reassured him. I also reassured him that Damon knew that he cared, too. "Ric, if there was something we could do, we would do it." I moved to stand next to him and spotted something on the table. "What is this?" I asked. As Alaric explained it to me I felt a glimmer of hope for the first time since this all began. We began to develop a plan to get rid of Katherine for good.

A few minutes later we had a plan. Now we just needed someone to implement it. I called Stefan to fill him and Damon in. I knew what I was asking him to do. Despite the fact that he killed Enzo, I still felt sadness knowing that there was no way both he and Damon were making it out of there alive. I also knew that neither of them would leave the other behind. Despite their differences and their problems with each other, the Salvatore brothers shared a deep bond, and I knew that they would never willingly leave the other behind.

After the girls finished getting changed, Alaric brought them to say goodbye to me. I could never repay them for their help in making me realize that I still had magic and for saving my life. I knew that there was a chance I would never see them again. Alaric and I also said goodbye, in our own way. I know that he realized that I may not make it out of this alive. I could see the sadness in his eyes as he realized that it may only be him, Caroline, and the twins who made it out alive.

Just as I had finished saying goodbye Caroline entered the armory through the tunnels. I could tell by her voice that she would never forgive herself for leaving her friends and her husband, but that she knew the girls needed her. When she asked if there was any news from Stefan, my heart broke a little. Thankfully Alaric answered so that I didn't have to. He told her to get in the car and he would explain on the way. He headed towards the car with the girls to give me a chance to say goodbye to Caroline alone.

"I'm going to save the world," I informed her. "and you need to get in that car and drive away." She started to argue, but Alaric interrupted, telling her that he was sorry, but they needed to go. "Ric will fill you in." I informed her. "I love you." We hugged and she instructed me, "Don't do anything stupid, Bonnie Bennett." I reassured her that I would be fine. I knew as I said those words that I had to find the strength to do this. Too many people were counting on me for me to fail.

After Alaric and Caroline left I called Damon to fill him in on the plan and to say goodbye. I knew that chances were good I would never see him again. He knew it, too. He had become my best friend over the last several years, and it was all I could do to hold it together as we said our goodbyes. Once we hung up all that was left for me to do was to wait. I had no doubt that the Salvatore brothers would be successful in their part of the plan. I just hoped that I would be just as successful with my part in the plan.

Once the clock struck five till ten I knew it was time to start the spell. "Okay, Grams. If I ever needed you to hear me, hear me now," I announced before starting the spell. I knew I could only do this with the help of Grams and my other ancestors.

Even though I couldn't hear the bell from the armory, I knew when it rang the final time as I could feel the magic in the hell fire. "Phesmatos incendia moventur. Ego ex vos. Vos ex unos," I chanted repeatedly. I could feel the fire as it rushed through the tunnels, being drawn to the armory by my magic. I watched as the fire burst into the main room of the armory. Determinedly I shouted, "Phesmatos incendia entrare!" I was using everything I had to hold the fire back, but it was slowly creeping forward. I thought that I would be scared, but instead I was angry and determined. "I can do this. I can beat you. You can't have me!" I shouted at it. "It's not my time." I could feel myself growing weaker.

"Now you're finally ready to live?" I heard Enzo's sarcastic voice next to me and turned my head to look at him. I couldn't believe he was there. "Keep fighting, love," he told me. I tried to tell him it was too strong, that I couldn't do it alone, but he reassured me. "Nonsense. You are strong enough to do anything you put your mind to. And love, you're not alone."

I suddenly felt someone holding my right hand and turned to look. It was Grams! I knew as soon as I saw her that Enzo was right. I was strong enough, and with the help of Grams, I could do this. As Grams and I started chanting the spell again, our voices were joined by all of the past Bennett witches. The fire started receding and, with one last yell, we sent it back down into the tunnels, sending it back to Mystic Falls to destroy hell once and for all. I smiled, knowing that I had done it, and then exhaustion overtook me and I collapsed.

The next thing I remember is Damon shaking me, telling me to wake up. "Damon?" I asked weakly, sitting up. I thought for sure I was dead or dreaming. How is he still alive?

"Bonnie!" Damon sounded relieved. "You did it, Bon-Bon. Katherine's dead."

"How are you here?" I asked him. There was something about him that was different. Even though he'd tried to mask it, I heard the sadness in his voice. "Stefan…?"

Damon shook his head. "Stefan…he injected me with the cure. I thought that I'd compelled him, but he came back and injected me with the cure and then pushed me out of the way. He's the one who sent Katherine back to hell. He sacrificed himself for me."

I had never seen Damon cry until that moment. I held him while he cried. Despite what Stefan had done to Enzo, I couldn't stay mad at him any longer. He had sacrificed himself so that Damon had a chance to live. Even in the face of death, he had put his brother first by injecting Damon with the cure so that he could live a human life with Elena. My heart broke when I realized that now that Damon was human, he couldn't wait another fifty or sixty years for Elena to wake up. I knew then that I had to find some way to break the curse Kai had put on Elena. That was how I would honor Stefan's sacrifice: by giving Damon the opportunity to live happily ever after with Elena.

Before we left the armory, I called Alaric to fill him in on what had happened. Although he was relieved that the plan had worked and that Damon, Matt, Elena, and I were all okay, I knew that the news of Stefan's death saddened him. Not because he and Stefan were close, but because of Caroline. I could hear her sobbing in the background as I hung up with Alaric, knowing that she had heard everything.

When we got back to the school, Matt was there waiting for us. He greeted me with a hug, his relief evident on his face. Although he and I have never been particularly close, we had known each other since we were just kids, and I was one of the few humans left in his life. I informed him that Alaric and Caroline were on their way back and then asked about Elena. I had hoped that when Katherine died the spell would be broken, but Matt informed me that Elena was still trapped in the boiler room.

When I told Matt and Damon that I was going to break the spell that was holding her in there, they both objected. Even though they were right about me still being weak from the spell I'd just done I knew that I couldn't leave Elena trapped in there. When Damon insisted that he wasn't leaving without her and that he would spend the night in the boiler room, I knew that I had to break the spell tonite for Damon's sake. Now that he was human, he needed rest and the comfort of his own home to help get him through his grief. I also knew that he and Caroline would need each other tonite.

Once the spell was broken, Damon carried Elena to Matt's car. He sat in the back seat, holding her head in his lap while Matt drove us both to the boarding house. When we arrived, he carried her body up to his room and placed her gently on his bed. He gently brushed her hair out of her face. Without turning around, he told me to let him know when Caroline and Alaric got there. I nodded and went downstairs, knowing that was his way of telling me that he wanted to be alone.

About fifteen minutes later, Caroline texted me, letting me know they were almost there. I went upstairs to let Damon know. His door was closed, so I knocked on it gently, knowing he wouldn't have heard me come up the stairs now that he was human. "Damon? They're almost here." A few seconds later the door opened. Damon's eyes were red from where he'd been crying. "You okay?" I asked him.

Damon looked at me, his eyes showing how broken he was. "Stefan's gone. I don't know if I'll ever be okay," he responded. He then headed downstairs before I could say anything else.

As soon as Alaric's car stopped outside the house, Caroline flew into my arms. I held her as she wept. "I'm so sorry," I whispered, wishing there were something that I could do to take both her and Damon's pain away. I watched as Alaric went over to Damon and pulled him into a much needed hug. I saw Damon give up in his fight against the tears and let them fall freely. It was good that was Alaric was here. Damon needed him. He was the closest thing that Damon had to a brother now.

I watched them for a few minutes and then whispered to Caroline, "Damon needs you." In reality, they needed each other right now, but I knew that Caroline would never admit it. She pulled away, nodded, and wiped her eyes and then made her way to where Matt was standing next to Damon and Alaric. Matt gave her a brief hug and then Caroline gently touched Alaric on his arm. He allowed her to take his place in front of Damon. I watched as she and Damon held each other, mourning for the person they both loved who had given up his life so that everyone else could live.

When Alaric came to stand beside me, I confided in him about my plan to wake Elena up. I asked him not to tell Damon or Caroline, just in case it didn't work. I didn't want to give them false hope just in case the spell didn't work.

Over the next few days I worked constantly on the spell to wake Elena up. Damon and Caroline both needed her more than ever right now. I can't take their pain away, but I can give them someone to help them through the pain. Damon especially needed her. He had taken to shutting himself in his room for hours at a time, ignoring everyone.

Finally, on the day of Stefan's funeral, I decided that I was ready. Once Alaric let me know that Damon and Caroline had left for the cemetery I made my way up to Damon's room. Her body had remained on his bed since Damon laid it there the night of Stefan's death. I think it had comforted him to be able to have her close. Caroline had told me about the trick that Katherine had played on Damon and Stefan, pretending to be Elena, and after coming so close to losing her, I think Damon was afraid to let her out of his sight again.

At first, I was afraid that the spell hadn't worked. Elena was still asleep. I started to go back over the spell, looking to see if I'd missed something, but then I heard Gram's voice inside my head. "These things take time, Bonnie. Be patient." I smiled and went to stand beside the bed. A few minutes later, Elena's eyelids started fluttering and then she woke up. She looked around at her surroundings at first, trying to figure out where she was. Once she realized that she was in Damon's room on his bed, she partially sat up. When she looked up at me, I couldn't help but start crying. "There she is," I whispered happily.

Elena sat up the rest of the way. "Am I…?" she asked.

"I did it. I broke the spell," I replied, laughing.

"How?" she asked.

"It took some time, but I think I finally figured this witch thing out," I told her happily. We laughed and cried together as we hugged. When Elena stopped laughing, I knew. She knew that Stephan was dead. I didn't know how, but I'm sure she'd fill me in later.

Elena pulled away. "Where is he?" she asked tearfully.

I immediately knew that she was asking about Damon. "He's with Caroline," I told her, "saying goodbye." I could see it in her eyes when I said it that she'd been holding on to the hope that Stefan was somehow still alive. I smiled gently at her as the tears that had pooled in her eyes began to fall.

"Does he know?" she asked. "Did you tell him that you were breaking the spell?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't tell either of them, just in case. I didn't want to give them false hope in case I couldn't break the spell. The only one who knew that I was trying is Alaric."

Elena nodded. "He's human, isn't he?" she asked, even though I could tell that she already knew the answer. I nodded and she got up. "I need to go to him."

I drove her to the cemetery, and then trailed a few feet behind her as she walked to the Salvatore crypt where Damon and Caroline were.

Caroline was the first to exit the crypt. I saw her eyes grow wide as she saw Elena standing there. I smiled at her and nodded gently, letting her know without speaking that, yes, this was real. I stepped back slightly to give them a little bit of privacy. For the first time since that fateful night, I saw Caroline really smile. Her sadness was still reflected in her eyes, but I knew that the smile was real when she let out a happy sigh. As she stepped down to go to Elena, Damon walked up behind her.

The look on Damon's face as he saw Elena was a mixture of sadness, disbelief, and love. I think he truly thought he was seeing things at first. I glanced at Elena, who looked slightly nervous at first, but then managed a small smile. When I looked back at Damon, he was smiling and his eyes, even though you could still see the sadness in them, were filled with love. As he took a step towards Elena, she began to move towards him, as well. In a few long strides, Damon had reached her and then their arms were around each other and they were kissing. The look on both of their faces made me cry. I could see their happiness and their love for each other, but I also saw relief, especially from Damon. I think that he was truly worried that he would never see her again once Stefan had given him the cure.

I stole a glance at Caroline and saw tears streaming down her face. I could tell that they were a mixture of tears of joy and tears of sorrow. Joy because her best friend was awake and had been reunited with Damon, and sorrow because their love reminded her of what she had lost. I made my way over to her and gave her a hug. "Let's give them some space," she whispered through her tears. I nodded and led her to a nearby bench where I held her while she cried.

A few minutes later, Elena walked over to join us. I started to give up so that they could have some time alone, but they both stopped me. Elena sat down on the bench on the other side of Caroline with her body angled towards her. "I need you to know," she began, "Stefan said something to me before we parted. 'One day, when you wake up, tell Caroline I heard her, and I will love her forever, too.'"

"He got my message," Caroline whispered, both crying and laughing. I could hear the relief in her voice that came from knowing Stefan had heard the last thing she'd said to him. Elena and I both smiled and leaned in to hug her. We sat there for a few more minutes in silence, just comforted by each other's presence. We were interrupted by the sound of a car pulling up. "It's Alaric," Caroline said softly.

Elena nodded. "There will be time for me to great him later," she replied. "Right now I want to spend time with the two of you. Damon should be the one to tell him the news."

A few minutes later another car pulled up. "It's Matt," Caroline informed Elena. "Go see him," she insisted. "He's missed you."

Elena got up and headed towards the crypt and Caroline and I followed slowly, wanting to give her some time with Matt before we got there. Alaric and Damon must have had the same thoughts, as they were standing off to the side a short distance away from the crypt. I smiled as I saw the shocked look on Matt's face that quickly gave way to a smile. It had been awhile since Matt had been given a real reason to smile. After a couple of minutes, we all walked over and joined Elena and Matt by the crypt. It was time to say goodbye to Stefan.


	4. Caroline

A/N: This chapter turned out to be even longer than Bonnie's chapter, but I wanted to make sure that I gave Caroline the attention she deserved. While I was never a huge fan of Stefan and Caroline together, I still cried during the season finale when she said goodbye to Stefan, realizing that she would never see him again. I cried several times while writing this chapter, as well. I hope that I was able to capture what Caroline was feeling.

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My heart dropped when I saw Stefan doing cpr on Bonnie. This couldn't be happening. I wasn't ready to lose my best friend. I tried to feed her my blood, but it didn't work. She wouldn't drink it. I sat back and cried as Stefan continued doing chest compressions. I was about to give up hope when she gasped and woke up. We hugged and I held onto her tightly, scared to let go. I was still crying, but this time they were happy tears. Bonnie was okay. She wasn't dead.

"I saw her," Bonnie whispered. "I saw Elena." She told us about the bed in the woods and how Elena was laying on it, sleeping, but then she woke up. She told us about how she'd hugged Elena. I laughed when Bonnie told us about how Elena telling her that she couldn't die yet, that she had to grow old and have children and grandchildren. That was so like Elena, always putting her friends before herself. I was grateful, though, that she had sent Bonnie back to us. I wasn't ready to lose her yet.

After checking to make sure that Bonnie really was okay, Stefan and I quickly filled Bonnie in on Katherine's plan for Mystic Falls. We told her that Damon and Matt had gone to stop Vicki from ringing the bell, but we didn't know if they'd be successful. We then drove her home so that she could start packing, just in case. On the way there I called Alaric and asked him to stop by and pick up Bonnie on his way to my place. I had already filled him in when he arrived at the wedding to pick the twins up.

After dropping Bonnie off, Stefan and I headed to the town square to see if Damon and Matt had made any progress with Vicki. We got there just as Damon was leaving the bell tower. "She won't stop and we can't kill her," Damon informed them. "Actually, that's not true. You can kill her, but she won't stay dead. I tried." He added with a smirk, "twice."

"There has to be something," Stefan insisted.

"The only chance we've got is if Donovan can somehow convince his train wreck of a sister hell ain't so bad," Damon replied.

I spotted Matt leaving the bell tower just as Damon finished talking. "There he is," I informed them. "Matt!"

Matt ignored me and pulled his phone out. "Yeah, it's Sheriff Donovan. Activate the evacuation protocol. Gas leak." He listened as the person on the other end said something and then he replied, "Yeah, again." He looked at us as he said it and I could hear the anger in his voice. It was obvious that he was blaming us for the town once again being in danger.

Once Matt got off the phone he came over to talk to us. "I can't stop her. I can't send her back there," he said emphatically.

Stefan nodded in understanding, but I wanted to scream. What did he mean he couldn't stop her? Wasn't this town important to him? I immediately regretted my thoughts. Vicki was his only sister and, for a while, his only family. I knew how much he'd struggled with her death. It wasn't fair for me to be mad at him for wanting to spare his sister from eternal torment. Damon apparently was having the same thoughts as me because he opened his mouth, probably to give Matt one of his usual snarky remarks, and then closed it without saying anything.

Stefan turned to me. "Go home and pack your things so that you're ready when Alaric gets there. I'll meet you there." I wanted to argue with him, but then I remembered. Elena's coffin was at the boarding house. Damon had moved it there in an attempt to keep Elena safe after Cade tried to burn it. Damon would need Stefan's help to get it out. "Be careful, please," I whispered. He nodded and gave me a kiss and then we parted ways.

I was almost finished gathering everything important when Stefan called. "Caroline, Elena's missing."

"What?" I exclaimed. "What do you mean she's missing? She's asleep! How can she be missing?"

Stefan filled me in on the trick that Katherine had played on him and Damon by pretending to be Elena and hiding Elena's body. "She's not in the house. Damon's checking the grounds and the cemetery."

"have you tried the high school?" I asked.

"That's my next stop," he replied. I told him that I'd meet him there and then hung up. I stopped in front of the hall table that was filled with pictures and picked up my favorite picture of my mom and I. I missed her so much. I wished that she were there. She would know what to do. She always knew what to do.

I was interrupted by the sound of Alaric's footsteps. He told me that the girls and Bonnie were in the car. I told him that I had the baby books and asked if we needed anything else. "Everything else is replaceable. Let's go," he replied.

I stopped him. "Listen, I need you to go ahead. I'm going to stay here and help Stefan."

"help Stefan do what?" he asked angrily.

I told him about Katherine taking Elena's body and that I was going to help them find it. He argued with me, telling me that the girls needed me. As much as I hated arguing with him, especially when it came to the girls, I knew that I had to stay. I couldn't leave Damon, Stefan, and Elena behind, especially when Elena was missing. When he brought up the fact that I knew how it felt to lose a mother, it stung. That was a low blow and he knew it. It only made me more resolved to stay. "I'll get out of here safely. I promise," I told him. I knew from the look that he gave me that he wasn't happy, but he finally agreed to leave.

When I arrived at the school, Stefan was waiting for me at the front entrance. "I found her," he informed me. His face had a grim look on it and I knew something was wrong. "Katherine had Kai set a trap. Elena's spelled into the boiler room and I can't get her out."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. That sneaky, conniving little bitch. I wanted to kill Katherine. "I'll call Bonnie," I replied hopefully. "Maybe she can help." Stefan nodded and as we walked inside the school I dialed Bonnie.

"Bonnie, we found Elena. Kai spelled her in and she can't get out." I didn't want to believe it when Bonnie told us that she was too far away and couldn't help. "Well, what are we supposed to do? I can't leave Elena here."

"It's not just Elena," Stefan added. Bonnie asked what he meant, so he explained. "You know Damon won't leave her here to die alone." I could tell that the possibility of losing both Damon and Elena terrified him.

"You need to head out now, Caroline," Alaric instructed. "Take the tunnels. It will be faster for you."

My heart dropped when I heard him. There really was nothing that we could do. I hung up the phone and looked at Stefan. "I can't believe this is happening," I whispered, trying to hold back my tears. I didn't know what to do. I knew that Stefan was right; Damon would never leave Elena to die alone. I also knew that Stefan would never leave Damon. I didn't want to leave Stefan, but I couldn't help but think of my girls. I didn't want them to grow up without a mother.

"I need to talk to Damon," Stefan replied, his emotions evident in his voice.

"Do you think you'll convince him?" I asked hopefully.

"No," Stefan replied, "but I have to try."

I could see the tears forming in his eyes. I knew that he was torn, just like me. He didn't want me to have to leave alone, but he couldn't leave his brother. I nodded, understanding what this meant. There was a chance that I would never see my husband again. "I made a promise to Ric," I told him, "that I wouldn't risk the girls growing up without a mother. So I can help you with Damon, but I can't-"

Stefan interrupted me. "No, I can do it alone. You get to safety. Family first."

"But we're family now, okay?" I tried to argue with him, "You and me and the girls. Just please, please don't make me leave you," I begged him. "Please!" I was crying now. I knew that he would never leave Damon, but I had to at least try to convince him to go with me. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try.

"If I want to convince Damon, I need to move fast and I can't do that unless I know you're safe," he replied, struggling to hold back the tears. I tried to argue with him, but he shook his head. "He's my brother."

I nodded. I knew that no matter how hard I argued, Stefan wouldn't leave Damon. As tears streamed down my cheeks I replied. "Family first."

"I love you so much," Stefan told me, holding my face in his hand.

"I love you, too," I replied, somehow managing a smile despite the fact that my heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces. We shared one last kiss and then, after a final look into the eyes of the man I love, I left.

I bawled my eyes out as I ran through the tunnels. I knew in my heart that I would never see Stefan again. This wasn't how tonite was supposed to go. It was our wedding night. We were supposed to enjoy it together. We were supposed to have a lifetime together ahead of us. It wasn't supposed to end like this, and it definitely wasn't supposed to end this soon.

By the time I reached the armory I had pulled myself together. I had to be strong for my girls. I couldn't let anyone see how scared I really was. I still had a small glimmer of hope that maybe Stefan would be able to convince Damon to leave, so I held onto that hope and pushed everything else aside. "Stefan is going to be okay. He's not going to leave you tonite," I told myself. I had to believe that. If I didn't, I would fall apart.

I took a deep breath and then entered the armory. "I made it, as promised," I announced. "Any word from Stefan?" I saw Bonnie and Alaric share a glance and I knew that something was wrong, but before I could ask, Alaric spoke up.

"Listen, we have to leave quickly. I'll explain everything to you in the car, okay?" He shooed the girls towards the car, giving me a minute alone with Bonnie. I looked at her, confused. Wasn't she coming with us?

"I'm going to save the world," Bonnie informed me. "And you need to get in that car and drive away." I was completely confused. What did she mean she was going to save the world? What was happening? Ever the control freak, I hated that I was being left out of the loop. "Ric will fill you," Bonnie said gently. "I love you."

As she hugged me, I knew that she was about to do something dangerous. From the way that she was talking I knew that she didn't know if she would ever see me again. "Just don't do anything stupid, Bonnie Bennett," I instructed her. She promised me that she would be fine, but that didn't do anything to appease the fear that I felt inside of me. I was barely keeping up my façade of being okay. I now scared that I was going to lose both my best friend and my husband in the same night.

Still holding myself together, I walked to the car and got in. We drove in silence for a while before I finally asked Alaric to tell me what was going on.

"I don't know what to say, Caroline. Stefan, he's, uh, he's made a decision," Alaric began. As he explained the plan to me, my carefully constructed façade crumbled and I began to cry, being careful to hold my sobs in so as not to wake the girls. Stefan was going to sacrifice to sacrifice himself to save Mystic Falls. I was never going to see him again.

"Stop the car," I instructed Alaric. "I said stop!" Alaric pulled over to the side of the ride, the brakes squealing from the sudden stop. I got out and went around to the back of the car and dialed Stefan's number. I had to tell him how I felt one last time. I had to make sure that he knew how much I loved him. "Stefan, please call me," I begged, crying. "Please." I struggled to talk through my tears. "I need you to know that I understand. I love you. I will love you forever. I understand." I told him. I knew that he would probably never get my message, but I had to try.

I stood sobbing outside of the car for a while longer before I could finally pull myself together enough to get back in. Before he put the car back into drive, Alaric reached out and put a hand on my leg, giving it a gently squeeze. I nodded at him, knowing that he was trying to tell me that he sorry, that he understood how I felt, and that he was there for me.

We drove for a while longer before Alaric's phone rang. I held my breath as he answered it. I was scared to find out who was on the other line and what they had to say. "We did it, Ric. Katherine's dead." I heard Damon's voice tell Alaric. I couldn't hold back the sobs any longer. I buried my face in my hands, trying to muffle the sound. If Damon was calling, that meant that Stefan was dead. My husband was dead. I heard Damon tell Alaric that Bonnie was okay, and to tell me that he was sorry, and that he and Bonnie would be waiting for me.

I don't remember much of the ride back to Mystic Falls. I only remember crying, and Rick stealing glances at me when he thought I wouldn't notice. I tried to keep from sobbing; not wanting to wake the girls, but one would occasionally break through despite my best efforts.

When we pulled up outside of the boarding house, I saw Bonnie, Damon, and Matt all standing there, waiting for us. As soon as the car stopped, I flew out of it and into Bonnie's arms. I was so thankful that she was alive. I needed my best friend more than ever right now. We held on to each other tightly for several minutes before Bonnie said anything. "Damon needs you," she whispered. I nodded and wiped my eyes, glancing over to where Alaric was standing, hugging Damon. Damon was crying, something that I had never seen before. Even when Elena had been put into her magical coma, Damon had hid his tears from the rest of us.

I walked over to where Matt was standing next to Damon and Alaric. He reached out and pulled me into a brief hug. "I'm so sorry, Care," he said. I could hear the tears hiding in his own voice. He and Stefan hadn't been close, but they'd had considered each other friends. He had also just lost his sister again. I managed to give him a small smile before moving on to where Alaric and Damon stood. I gently touched Alaric on the arm and nodded when he looked at me, letting him know that I was there for Damon. He stepped back and I took his place in front of Damon.

I could hear Damon's heart beating. Damon shared a look with me, confirming it to me. He was human again. Stefan must have somehow given him the cure. He pulled me into his arms and we held on to each other as we cried. Although Damon and I had never been close and hadn't even really ever gotten along, we needed each other right now. I was the only family that he had left, and he was my only connection to Stefan.

As we stood there, Damon whispered to me, telling me what Stefan had done. He told me about how he had compelled Stefan to leave, but that Stefan had been on vervain and had come back and injected him with his blood, with the cure. He told me how Stefan had pushed him out of the way and had then stepped into the tunnel and stabbed Katherine with the bone knife. He told me that when he had woken up, Stefan and Katherine had both been gone. He had searched, hoping that somehow Stefan had made it out alive, even though he knew it was impossible.

My heart broke all over again as Damon told me this. It broke for Stefan, always there hero, who had given his life to save everyone else, including his brother. It broke for what I had lost: my husband of only a few hours who I would never see again. It broke for Damon, who had lost his brother, the only family he had left, and was now human and faced the possibility of never seeing Elena awake again before he died.

I knew in that instant that my relationship with Damon would forever be changed. No longer did I think of him as the evil brother or as a horrible person. He was now my family, the brother who had been willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life, to save his younger brother. He had lost Stefan just like me. I determined then and there that I would always be there for him, no matter what.

Eventually Damon and I both dried our eyes. He held out his arm and I took it, and together we went into the boarding house, where everyone else was waiting for us in the parlor. The twins had woken up and were sitting on the couch by Alaric, looking quite sleepy and confused. Bonnie and Matt were sitting on the other couch talking.

As soon as the girls saw me, they came running. "Mommy!" I knelt down and pulled them both into a hug. I didn't think that I had any more tears left to cry, but apparently I was wrong as tears began to fall from my eyes once more. The girls must have known that something was wrong, as they just let me hold them for several minutes. I felt a hand gently touch my back, and I knew without looking up that it was Alaric. He cleared his throat and then told the girls to go get in the car, saying that it was time to go home. I released them and stood up and they obediently ran to the car.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Alaric asked gently.

I looked at Damon, asking his permission to stay without using words, and he nodded. "No, I'm going to stay here for tonite, Ric." He nodded and left after saying goodbye. Matt was the next to leave, apologetically stating that he wanted to get home to his dad. He offered Bonnie a ride, but she declined, saying that she was going to stay the night.

After Matt had left, Damon turned to Bonnie and me. "Bonnie, you can take your pick of guest rooms." She nodded and went off to choose a room. He then turned his attention to me. "Do you want to stay in a guest room, or do you want to stay in…" he broke off before finishing, unable to say Stefan's name.

I reached out a hand and rested it on his arm. "I'll stay in his room, if that's okay with you," I replied. He nodded and then left to go to his own room without saying anything else.

When I entered Stefan's room I was immediately drawn to the closet. I grabbed one of his shirts and smelled it, needing to feel close to him again. Although tears were once again falling from my eyes I smiled as I thought back on all the memories and love that we had shared.

For the next few days I kept myself busy taking care of everyone else. I wasn't ready to slow down because I knew that as soon as I did, I would be overwhelmed by emotions again. I compelled someone to make a plaque to put in the Salvatore crypt for Stefan, planned his funeral, cleaned like crazy, and occasionally checked on Damon. He'd hardly left his room since that night and I was worried about him.

On the day of the funeral Damon and I made our way to the cemetery together. Neither of us wanted to be alone, but both us wanted to say goodbye to Stefan before everyone else arrived. He and I stood together in front of the plaque in the Salvatore crypt, holding hands. "Do you think it exists?" Damon asked me as he ran his fingers across the words "Peace." I'd had the words "Now at Peace" printed at the bottom of the plaque rather than the year of Stefan's death.

"Peace?" I asked. Damon nodded. "I do," I replied, "we'll see him again." I smiled at the comfort that thought brought to me.

"You'll see him again," Damon stated sadly. "Me, I'm going the other way. They'll probably reopen hell for me."

I let out a small chuckle. Becoming human again hadn't changed Damon's personality at all. "Don't be so sure," I told him softly, smiling.

He looked at me and a sad grin formed on this face. "Hmph" he replied. I could tell that he didn't believe me. He had made it clear to me the few times that we had talked since Stefan died that he didn't think he would ever find peace, especially not after he couldn't stop Stefan from sacrificing his life for him. I knew that he would, though. One thing that I had realized over the past few days was that Damon had a lot of good in him; he just kept it hidden away, afraid to let anyone see. Elena had been the one exception to that, but she wasn't here, so I needed to make sure that he realized how good he truly was.

I glanced at Stefan's plaque again and rested my head on Damon's shoulder, sighing. I missed Stefan so much, and I was exhausted from trying to keep myself together over the past few days. He pulled the hand that was holding mine up to his chest and rested his free hand on my arm. We stood there silently like that for a few moments, drawing comfort from each other. I then pulled away and walked towards the doors, wanting to give him some time alone.

As I pulled the doors open and walked outside, I stopped, surprised by what I saw. I took a couple of small steps forward, thinking that I had to be imagining things. Elena was still sleeping. She couldn't be here. I glanced at Bonnie, who smiled and nodded, and then back at Elena. She smiled at me and I knew then. She was really here. I wasn't imagining things. I let out a small laugh and smiled. Elena laughed softly as well. She was awake!

Damon must have heard Elena, as he appeared behind me almost immediately after she'd laughed. I stepped down from the crypt and turned to see his face. I'll never forget the expression on his face when he saw her. It was one of confusion, then shock, and then happiness. A smile spread across his face and I saw tears form in his eyes again, but I knew that this time they were tears of joy, not of sorrow. As he stepped out of the crypt, Elena began running towards him. In a couple of long strides, Damon reached her and then they were in each other's arms, kissing.

I smiled as I watched them. Both of their faces were wet with tears and had huge smiles plastered across them. I was so happy that Elena was awake and that she was here, but I also felt sorrow, knowing that Stefan wasn't here to share this moment. To be honest, I also felt a twinge of pain and jealousy as I remembered that I would no longer get to experience that kind of love with Stefan. By now, the tears that I had fought to hold back since that night were falling. Mixed in with them, though, were happy tears.

Bonnie made her way over to me and gave me a hug. "Let's give them some space," I whispered through my tears. She nodded and we walked to nearby bench where we sat while she held me and let me cry.

"How is she here?" I asked through my tears. Bonnie smiled. "I broke the spell," she replied. "I've been working on it since that night. I just didn't want to say anything to you or Damon in case I couldn't do it. I knew that you and Damon needed her, and I didn't want to give you false hope."

A few minutes later, Elena walked over to join us. Bonnie started to get up, but Elena and I both stopped her. Elena sat down on the other side of me on the bench, her body angled towards me. "I need you to know," she began, "Stefan said something to me before we parted. He told me, 'One day, when you wake up, tell Caroline I heard her, and I will love her forever, too.'"

"He got my message," I whispered happily. Elena nodded and I smiled through my tears. I couldn't believe that he had actually gotten my message. Even when I left it I had never expected him to get it. To know that he'd told Elena to tell me that he heard me and that he will love me forever, too meant so much to me. I laughed through my tears and Bonnie and Caroline both leaned in to hug me.

We sat there for a few more minutes in silence, all three of us crying. The silence was interrupted by the sound of Alaric's car pulling into the cemetery. "It's Alaric," I told them softly, knowing that Elena would want to see him. She must have known that I wasn't ready to let her go yet, as she replied, "There will be time for me to great him later. Right now I want to spend time with the two of you. Damon should be the one to tell him the news." I nodded, smilingly. It was so good to have her back.

We sat there and talked for a few minutes, Bonnie and I trying to catch Elena up on everything that had happened while she was asleep and Elena telling us what it had been like for her. We were interrupted by another car pulling in. This time it was Matt, and I told Elena to go see him. He'd been through a lot over the past several years and I knew that seeing her would be good for him.

Bonnie and I followed slowly behind Elena as she made her way back towards the crypt. We tried to stay far enough behind that she would have some time to greet Matt before we got there. Alaric and Damon must have had the same thought, as they were standing off to the side a short distance away from the crypt. We watched as Elena greeted Matt, laughing at the expression on his face when he was trying to figure out if she was real or not, and smiling at the hug they shared once he'd decided that it really was Elena.

We gave Matt and Elena a few minutes together before joining them at the crypt. It was time to say goodbye to Stefan.

We held a small, informal funeral for Stefan by each leaving something on a pillar outside the crypt, just as we had when Bonnie had died the summer of our senior year. Matt, Alaric, and Bonnie went first, each leaving a rose. Elena went next, leaving the necklace that Stefan had filled with vervain and given to her shortly after they met. I went next. I left the small Mystic Falls keychain snow globe that Stefan had given me our junior year during a Christmas gift exchange that I had set up. I'd thought that it was silly then and had told Elena and Bonnie that I regretted including the guys, but now it represented all of the memories that Stefan and I had together. I walked back to stand with the others and Bonnie wrapped her arm around me. Damon went last. He left his daylight ring. He never told me why, but I suspect it was to symbolize the years they spent together and to thank Stefan for giving him the cure.

As Bonnie and I walked away from the crypt arm-in-arm, I took a deep breath. I would love Stefan forever, just as I had promised, but I would also go on with my life. I would raise my daughters, just like he'd wanted, and then help them raise their children. I was determined to live my life in a way that honored Stefan's memory.


	5. Damon, pt 1

A/N: I had to split Damon's chapter into two parts because it was getting to be so long. I'm not finished with the second part yet, but I wanted to go ahead and post the first part tonite. My goal is to finished and post the second part of his chapter sometime tomorrow. I hope that I stayed true to Damon's character as much as I could; there is a lot to cover with him, and I struggled trying to keep his personality while at the same time taking into account everything that changed for him in the season finale and how that would have affected him.

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I vamped to the bell tower as fast as I could when Donovan's mother told us that Vicki was ringing the bell. I wasn't going to let Katherine win this one. She'd already destroyed our lives enough; no need to let her destroy our town, too.

When I reached the bell tower, I ran up the stairs and tossed Vicki off the bell. "Can't let you do that," I told her. When she told me that there was nothing I could do to stop her it only made me angrier. There was no way I was going to let her finish ringing that bell. I grabbed her and tossed her through the window, watching as she fell to the ground. I turned away from the window, feeling rather pleased with myself.

Immediately after I'd turned from the window, Donovan came bounding up the stairs. "Where is she?" he demanded. "She went splat," I responded without a hint of apology.

"You threw her out the window?" Donovan yelled, rushing over to the window. I rolled me eyes. "You are aware that she's already dead…" I replied irritably. When he yelled me name, I got even more irritated. I was trying to figure out a way to defeat Katherine and his constant yelling wasn't helping.

I'd almost made it to the stairs when Vicki appeared at the top of them. "Was that really necessary?" she asked. I couldn't help but smirk as I shook my head. It would be just our luck that she wouldn't stay dead. I grabbed her hand when she reached for the bell. No way was I letting her touch that bell again. She started to blather on about how I wasn't going to stop her and about Katherine, so I decided to test a theory and snap her neck. Donovan, of course, wasn't too pleased with me about that, but just as I'd figured, Vicki came back to life less than a minute later.

"Yep, she's deader than a doornail," I announced sarcastically. My work here was done. It was all up to Donovan now. I knew that he was the only one who would be able to get through to Vicki right now. Considering that she'd already hated my guts before I tossed her out a window and broke her neck I knew that I was the last person she'd listen to. "You need to convince her to stop ringing that bell," I instructed Donovan as I headed towards the stairs. "You understand me? The fate of Mystic Falls lies with you and your family, so get on it."

I didn't have much faith in Donovan and I was already mad, so when he asked where I was going, I replied honestly. "Anticipating your failure. It'd be kinda dumb to stick around. I have things to do."

When I got outside, Caroline and Stefan were waiting for me. "She won't stop and you can't kill her," I informed them. "Actually, that's not true. You can kill her, but she won't stay dead. I tried…twice," I added with a smirk. "There has to be something," my always optimistic brother replied.

"The only chance we've got is if Donovan can somehow convince his train wreck of a sister hell ain't so bad," I told him.

"There he is. Matt!" Caroline called as Donovan walked out of the bell tower. We turned to look at him, but he ignored us and got on his phone instead. "Yeah, this is Sheriff Donovan," he stated. Activate the evacuation protocol. Gas leak." He paused for a moment to listen as the person on the other end asked him something. "Yeah, again," he replied. Judging from the tone of his voice and the look he gave us, he was none too happy about having to evacuate the town again.

After Donovan hung up he walked over to us. "I can't stop her. I can't send her back there," he told us. I opened my mouth to say something snarky, but then closed it without saying anything. Considering Donovan still blamed me for Vicki being dead in the first place, I figured it'd be best to just keep my mouth shut.

I had to get Elena out of town. That was the only thing I could think about at that moment. If we couldn't stop Mystic Falls from burning, I had to make sure that Elena's body was safe. Stefan must have been thinking the same thing, as he turned to Caroline and told her to go to her place and get her things and he would meet her there later. Surprisingly, she didn't argue with him.

Stefan and I headed back towards the boarding house. I hadn't told him, but I was glad that he'd decided to come with me rather than staying with Caroline. I would need his help with Elena's coffin.

As we walked into the boarding house Stefan, the eternal optimist, insisted that there had to be something we were missing. "Nope," I told him. "Katherine won. She played the long game and finally beat us." I hated admitting that, but the last thing I needed was Stefan going off and trying to play hero. We rounded the corner to the room where Elena's coffin. I stopped in shock as I saw that it was open and empty.

"What?" I breathed. "No…" I'd tried for so long to keep her safe and now her body was missing at the worst possible time.

"Earlier Bonnie's heart stopped," Stefan said slowly. I turned to look at him. Why was I just now hearing this? He continued, "She said she saw Elena." I looked at him, trying to process what he'd just told me. What did Bonnie mean, she'd seen Elena?

Before I had a chance to respond, I heard Elena's voice call my name from the direction of the casket. "Damon?" I quickly turned to look and my heart jumped. She was standing there. Elena was standing in front of her coffin, and she was awake!

"Elena?" I breathed, still trying to process the fact that she was standing in front of me. I started to walk towards her, but she held up her hand. "What's going on?" she asked. "Is Bonnie…?" her voice faltered and her face showed her concern.

"Bonnie's okay," I assured her. "You're both okay." The last part was as much for me as it was for her. I still couldn't believe that she was standing there. She smiled tearfully. "I'm awake?" she asked. "You're awake," I echoed softly, moving towards her. God, it was good to see her again. I had waited for this since the day Kai had put the sleeping spell on her. When I reached her, I picked her up and swung her around, elated that she was finally awake.

As I swung her around, I hesitated. This wasn't Elena. I could tell from the way her body felt and the way she was reacting. It had to be Katherine. I dropped her and backed away. "No," I muttered. "No, no, no, no." I couldn't believe that I'd been fooled by Katherine yet again. "Rude," Kathryn exclaimed disgustedly.

Stefan walked up being me. "You've gotta be kidding me," he grimaced. "Katherine." It was all I could do to contain my anger in that moment. I wanted to rip her head off for what she did to me.

"Hello, brothers," Katherine responded with a devious smile on her face, walking past us. She helped herself to our bourbon as Stefan and I watched. "Am I drinking alone?" she asked innocently.

"Where's Elena?" I questioned. I'd had enough of her stupid little games. I need to know where Elena was. It angered me that Katherine had dared to steal Elena's body and then attempted to fool Stefan and me into thinking that she was Elena.

"Dead," Kathrine replied. "A spiritual coma, if we're getting technical."

"Her physical body," Stefan responded. "Where is it?" I could tell from his tone that he was almost as irritated with Kathryn as I was.

"That's for me to know, and for you to dot dot dot," Kathryn badgered. "I hope you enjoyed the little show I put on for you. It's been a hoot watching you take on "the devil," she chuckled. "Expecially considering I had him wrapped around my finger since the minute I stepped into hell. Why do you think he wanted you? Because I wanted you. Duh." As she raised her glass to her lips to take another drink, I vamped over to her and grabbed it from her hand, tossing it across the room. "Damn it, Katherine," I cursed. "Where is she?"

"It really is the perfect revenge. At 10pm, Mystic Falls will burn. Precious Elena will burn. And I'm guessing one of you two Salvatores is going down with her. Should I place my bets now?" before she had a chance to say anything else, Stefan shoved the bone knife into her chest. She sputtered in pain and then collapsed as Stefan pulled the knife out.

"Well, that shut her up," I stated. Stefan glanced behind him at the clock and then turned to me. "We're running out of time. We have to find Elena," he reminded. "Let's go."

We made a plan once we got outside. Stefan would search the house and the school, and I would search the grounds and the cemetery. I found myself selfishly wishing that Stefan was still a vampire, knowing that human Stefan wouldn't be able to cover ground as quickly as vampire Stefan would have been able to.

I had just finished searching the grounds and was heading to the cemetery when Stefan called to say that he'd found Elena in the school boiler room. "The boiler room," I repeated in amazement. "There is a horror movie reference in there somewhere, but it escapes me," I quipped. I felt relief knowing that Elena was safe and unharmed until Stefan added, "I'm fine, but she's trapped. We're running out of time. You have to get Katherine to break the spell."

"I'm all over it," I replied, glad that Stefan wasn't there to see the worry that I knew was etched on my face. I hung up and turned around to head back towards the house, but was taken aback by the sight of Katherine standing there, leaning against a tree. "Need something?" she asked tauntingly.

My blood boiled at the sight of her. "You're like a bad penny," I told her. She ignored me and continued. "Funny thing about that bone dagger: It sends me to hell, but it can't keep me there. I'm sorry," she said mockingly. "Oh, and if you want to know how to get Elena free? You can't. Kai Parker was kind enough to set that trap for me, and, if I'm not mistaken, he's forever indisposed."

It took everything I had in me not to tear her head off right then. The only thing holding me back was knowing that she was our only chance at freeing Elena. "After 153 odd years, this banter that we have is just old. So why don't you just skip to the part where you tell me what you want and we'll negotiate," I replied angrily.

Katherine laughed. "I have everything I want, Damon. Or, I'm about to. Once that last bell rings, this stupid town will go up in flames and everybody will go 'poof'! Well, they'll burn alive first, but then their ashes will go 'poof'!"

"You know, petty doesn't look good on a woman your age, Katherine," I informed her. "Oh, I'm not being petty," she responded. "I'm gloating."

I'd had enough of her at that point. "No, you're jealous of Elena. Because you know that Stefan and I both would choose her over you every time," I announced, grinning at the pleasure it gave me to inform her of that. "And she would choose Stefan," Katherine retorted, trying to get under my skin. I grimaced. "And what makes you so sure of that?" I asked. "Because I would. Any woman would. Stefan is the better man," Katherine retorted. That sent me over the edge. I reached out and stabbed her with the bone dagger. I chuckled as I pulled it out and then rolled my eyes. I'd forgotten how annoying and self-centered Katherine Pierce was.

I began heading to the school. I wanted to see for myself that Elena was unharmed. I also knew that we'd run out of time. There was no way to break the spell in the time that we had left, no way to free Elena and save her. My blood boiled knowing that after everything I had done to keep Elena safe, including offering myself to the devil, Katherine had made it impossible to save her. I had to be with Elena. If she was going to die, then I was going to die with her. There was no way I was leaving her to die alone.

Memories raced through my mind as I made my way to the school. I thought back to the moment I realized that I knew I was in love with Elena: our dance at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant. Thinking back further, I remembered the day when I started falling for her, although I didn't realize it until much later: I had saved her life after she'd crashed her car into another vampire. She had been in shock; at the time I'd assumed it was from her near-death experience, but just before she passed out, Elena had whispered, "I look like her." I'd realized that she must have seen a picture of Katherine, probably the one that had been on Stefan's desk. I'd wanted to murder my brother at that point for being so careless, but I settled for putting Elena in my car and taking her with me to Georgia to see a witch about freeing Katherine from the tomb. I wasn't really sure why I'd decided to do it. I'd made the excuse that it was to make Stefan mad, which was partially true, but it was also because I felt a need to protect Elena. She's been so scared and wounded that night and I had felt an overwhelming urge to take care of her. She had saved my life that trip by convincing Lexi's boyfriend not to kill me, and it was in that moment that I realized she was completely different from Katherine. That trip had changed our relationship from hatred to friends.

Just as I reached the school, Bonnie called. I answered, hoping that she'd come up with a way to free Elena. "What is it, Bon-Bon?" "I figured out a way to kill Katherine and save Mystic Falls," she'd replied. That stopped me in my tracks. Saving Mystic Falls meant saving Elena. I was definitely on board with whatever her plan was.

After Bonnie had explained her plan to me, I raced back to the spot in the woods where I'd left Katherine's body. I knew the danger of Bonnie's plan. I knew that I wouldn't make it out of this alive. My heart had sank when Bonnie had explained that part to me, realizing that I would never see Elena again, that we would never get our happily ever after. It didn't stop me from agreeing to her plan, though. I would do anything to save Elena.

Katherine's body was gone when I reached the woods. I groaned. Of course she wouldn't be there. Why couldn't anything ever be easy? I thought for a moment, trying to decide the best way to draw her out, when it came to me. The tomb under the old church. It was connected to the tunnels, so it would work perfectly for Bonnie's plan, and I knew that Katherine wouldn't miss an opportunity to come annoy me there. At least, I hoped she wouldn't. I quickly texted Stefan to let him know the plan and then continued to the tomb.

I was only in there for a few minutes before Katherine walked in. I let myself smile slightly, enjoying the fact that I'd been right. "Taking a trip down memory lane?" she asked. "Oh, I've missed this place…said no one ever," she moaned.

"I figured you'd keep showing up to annoy me. You're nothing if not utterly predictable," I responded. "And miss a minute of the Elena Gilbert show?" she exclaimed sarcastically. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be by her side?" she asked, feigning concern.

"Ah, I figured now that you're practically the devil you would be in the know," I replied sarcastically. "I just hung up with Bonnie Bennett and she figured out a way to save the day." I explained triumphantly. Katherine scoffed. "Bonnie isn't strong enough to save a kitten." Seriously? First she dissed my girlfriend and now she's dissing my best friend? I rolled my eyes. "She's done it once or twice. My money's on her," I responded, knowing that would get Katherine fired up.

"We're talking about hell fire," Katherine exclaimed, "so intense that it could obliterate anything within miles. What the hell is Bonnie going to do? She's thirty minutes away," Katherine added, sounding pleased. "If you take the highway around the mountain, sure," I responded. "But as the crow flies, it's only seven miles." I turned my back to Katherine, not wanting her to see the grin that I plastered across my face just yet. She had no idea what was in store for her. I continued while turning back around to face her, "Which is the beauty of these tunnels. Did you know that they go from the armory straight into the heart of downtown Mystic Falls? Yeah, I bet you didn't know that, did you?"

Katherine was getting flustered and I was enjoying every second of it. "You think Bonnie Bennett can magically draw hellfire through the tunnels, away from the town?" she asked, trying to hide her anxiety behind a tone of disbelief. "Even better," I replied. "I think she can send it straight back to hell, where you and I will be waiting patiently for it." I paused, enjoying the look on Katherine's face as she realized that we'd outsmarted her. "I gotta say, I look forward to dying by your side, K.P," I remarked.

I could see the panic in Katherine's eyes despite her attempts to hide it. This was way too much fun. "You're bluffing," she protested, smiling. She was doing a valiant job of trying to make me think that she didn't believe me. I was about to respond when someone else spoke.

"No, he's not," Stefan assured her as he walked into the tomb. "And neither am I." I felt a moment of panic. What was he doing here? Stefan and his hero hair were supposed to be at the school with Elena. What did he think he was doing here? There was no way I was letting him die today. I couldn't do that to Caroline, not on their wedding day. As much as I acted like I hated Blondie, I couldn't stand the thought of being the one to destroy her and Stefan's happiness, especially not when she'd thought so hard to get both of us back. "I got this handled, bro. You need to get out of these tunnels," I instructed him, feeling a sense of panic at the thought of him getting caught in the fire.

"I'm not the one who's going to get out of here, Damon" Stefan insisted. "You are." I wanted to strangle him. He was crazier than I gave him credit for if he thought I was going to leave him here to die. "Bad time to be a martyr, Stefan," I informed him. "Said the martyr," Stefan retorted.

"I'm going to let you two figure this out," Katherine said quickly, "amongst yourselves." She moved to leave the tomb, so I threw the bone dagger in her back. I didn't have time to deal with her right now. I needed to deal with Stefan.

"Okay, fine," I told Stefan angrily. "Then we'll both go." Stefan argued back, "Somebody needs to stay here and make sure she's actually in hell when it's destroyed." "I'm aware, Stefan," I retorted. "Tell Elena that I did this for her, to pay for my past mistakes." I tried to mask the despair that I felt as I said that. I didn't want to think about how Elena would react when she woke up and found out that I had died. At the same time, I also couldn't bear the thought of her waking up and finding out about every evil thing that I'd done while she'd been asleep, which is why I knew that I need to do this. It was the only way I could make up for everything that I'd done.

Stefan shook his head. "You can tell her yourself. I need to do this, Damon. I owe it to Bonnie and Enzo. I owe it to a lot of people." "I'm not going to leave you to die here, Stefan," I insisted. "Yes, you are," Stefan stated. His hero complex was seriously getting on my nerves right now. I would never be able to live with myself if I let him die instead of me. It was my fault that he'd turned his humanity off and killed Enzo. I wasn't going to let it be my fault that he died.

"Are you seriously going to sit here and argue with me about who need this redemption more? You're not responsible for Enzo, Stefan!" I yelled. "You keep saying that, but you're wrong," Stefan argued back. "We're all responsible for our own actions. Every drop of blood that I spilled I am accountable for." "Then I'm responsible, too, and I've spilled even more," I spit back. I couldn't believe that we were actually arguing about who was the worse person. I needed to get him out of the tunnels. We were running out of time.

"Damon, I'm human" Stefan replied. "In 60 years I'm gonna be old; I'm gonna be dead. You have quite literally an eternity with Elena ahead of you." "Which means a lot less without you!" I insisted. I meant every word of it.

'Do you think I want this?" Stefan cried. "I just got married! My wife is out there waiting for me to come home to her. But in the nearly two centuries since I made you become a vampire, I have fought to turn you into the man who deserves the happiness that is out there right now." I shook my head. "No," I replied, holding back tears.

Stefan placed his hand on my shoulder. "Let me do this for you," he insisted emotionally. "No," I replied again. I wasn't going to let him win this argument. "Then let me do this for me. Please," he begged.

I stood there looking into my younger brother's eyes. I saw the emotion and the love that he had for me in his eyes. I also saw the regret for everything that he'd done. Still, I couldn't let him do this. He was right; he was human now. I knew what I had to do. "I love you, little brother," I whispered. I hadn't told him that enough. I'd spent too much time trying to make his life miserable to realize how much I truly did love him. "I love you, too," Stefan whispered back. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he thought he'd won.

I nodded and placed both of my hands on his shoulders, taking a minute to compose myself for what I was about to do. "And you're right. You are human." I paused, trying to hold myself together. "Which is why I can do this." I looked into his eyes to compel him. "Go," "No, Damon," he tried to interrupt me, but I wouldn't let him. "You're going to walk out of these tunnels and you are not going to stop until my death breaks the compulsion. Because I am the big brother. I'm sorry I wasn't better at it until now." I struggled to get the last few words out through the tears that were pooling in my eyes. "I said go!" I shoved him backwards. "Go!" Stefan looked at me, tears streaming down his cheeks, and then turned and began making his way out of the tunnel.

I stood there after he left and finally allowed myself to cry. I knew how much this was going to hurt him. I knew that he would never forgive himself for leaving me. But he would be safe. He would be able to go home to his wife and to her two girls and live out the rest of his human life. And when Elena finally woke up, he'd be able to tell her that, in death, I had finally become the man that she deserved.

My heart felt like it was shattering as I thought about Elena. We'd had so many plans. We were going to get married, she was going to go to medical school, and I was going to own a bar. We were going to have kids and raise a family together. I was supposed to be there when she woke up, waiting for her. I didn't want to think about how much it would hurt her to find out that I was dead.

I thought back to when we'd said goodbye. We had danced at the spot where we'd first met. She'd asked me if I was ready, and I'd replied, "For me to spend the next 60 years without you? Who's ever going to be ready for that?" We had then told each other that we loved each other and had kissed one last time.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. I knew that she would never know what I was about to say because there was no one there to hear it, but I had to say it anyways. "I once promised you that I would never leave you again. I broke that promise once and it hurt you so badly that you had Ric compel you. Now I'm about to break it again. I can only hope that you'll understand why I had to do this. I love you, Elena Gilbert."

I stood there in silence for a while, lost in my thoughts and then I head Katherine gasp back to life behind me. "It's about time you wake up. I thought you were going to miss all the fun," I said sarcastically. I looked at my watch and then pulled her up. I pushed her in front of me over to the tunnel entrance in the tomb and held the bone dagger to her throat. "Not long now, demon spawn," I informed her. "I can hear that fire coming back this way." She moaned and fought to get away. "You love this, don't you?" she bit out. "You have no idea," I replied emphatically, smiling.

Barely a second later, I felt something stab me in my back and heard Stefan grunt behind me. I gritted me teeth at the pain and then my eyes widened in shock. Stefan. What was he doing back here? I had compelled him to leave! I reflexively released Katherine, but before I could react, he pushed me into the tomb.

I rolled onto my side so that I could see the entrance to the tunnels. I saw Stefan drag Katherine back to the entrance. She fought him and begged him to let her go, but he ignored her. I saw her eyes go wide and Stefan muttered, "Burn in hell," and then stabbed her in the heart with the bone knife. I laid there dazed, floating between consciousness and unconsciousness when I heard him utter his final words, "Goodbye, brother." I saw the fire come just as I blissfully slipped into unconsciousness.


	6. Damon, pt 2

A/N: Here is the second part of Damon's story. It ended up being much longer than I had anticipated. I hope that I was able to capture Damon's feelings without making him seem to out of character. The end of this chapter, especially, was difficult to write, as I wanted to capture the joy that he felt at seeing Elena again and getting to spend the rest of his life with her while still holding on to that sadness and responsibility that he felt from the death of his brother.

* * *

When I regained consciousness, it all came flooding back to me. Stefan had come back to the tomb and injected me with something. He had taken Katherine and then he'd stabbed her. Then the fire…it hit me then. Stefan was dead. He'd sacrificed himself to save me. "He must have injected me with vervain," I thought. I went to get up and was surprised at how slowly I moved. "No," I muttered slowly. "No, no, he didn't." I grabbed a nearby rock and sliced my finger on it. I stared at it as it bled, waiting for it to heal, but it never did. Stefan hadn't injected me with vervain; he'd injected me with the cure

I ran into the tunnels, stepping over the pile of ashes at the entrance, and yelled for him. "Stefan! Stefan! Damn it, Stefan!" I knew he was dead, but I had to try. I had to look for him, just on the off chance that he somehow survived, even though I knew it was impossible.

After searching vainly for several minutes I fell to my knees, sobbing. "No," I cried. "Stefan, no!" He was dead. My brother was dead, and all that was left was a pile of ashes. Why did he always have to play the hero? How could he do this to me?

Eventually I pulled myself together and stood up. Elena. I had to make sure that she was alright. I slowly made my way out of the tunnels and over to the school. I was walking down the hall to the boiler room when I heard Donovan call my name. "Damon?"

I looked up. "Donovan? Is Elena…?" I couldn't finish the sentence. I didn't want to even think about what I would do if I lost both my brother and my girl in the same day.

"She's okay," Donovan assured me. "What happened?"

"Stefan killed Katherine," I replied, my voice catching when I said Stefan's name. "I thought I'd compelled him to leave, and he left, but then he came back. He injected me with the cure and pushed me out of the tunnel. He stabbed Katherine."

"Damon, I'm sorry," Donovan replied. I ignored him. I knew that he meant it, and I knew that he understood what it was like to lose your only sibling, but I couldn't think about it right now. It hurt too much. "I'm going to go get Bonnie," I said instead. "I haven't heard from her since it all went down and I want to make sure that she's okay." I did want to check on Bonnie, but I also needed some time alone to clear my head.

As I headed through the tunnels to the armory, memories flashed through my head of my brother. I thought about how I'd caught him trying to tie one of Father's ties the morning of Mother's funeral, about the fun times that we had together before I went off to war, and about the night that we were shot and killed while trying to rescue Kathrine. I remembered telling him that I didn't want to complete the process of becoming a vampire and how he'd forced me to feed and I'd promised to make his life miserable. Memories of all the fights that we had flooded back. I felt guilty for how I'd treated him and for how long it had taken me to admit that I really did love him.

When I arrived at the armory, Bonnie was laying on the floor, unconscious. "No," I whispered, remembering what Stefan had said earlier in the night about Bonnie's heart stopping. I rushed over and knelt down beside her, hoping that she would have a pulse. I breathed a sigh of relief when she did. As much as I wanted Elena back, I couldn't lose Bonnie. Not yet.

It was then that it hit me that I might never see Elena again. I was human now, which meant that I would naturally age. I would no longer stay 25 years old. There was a possibility that Bonnie would outlive me. Even if she didn't, I would likely be an old man before she died and Elena woke up. We would never get our happily ever after. I felt guilty for even thinking about it. Stefan had just died, leaving Caroline a widow on her wedding night. Just hours earlier I had been feeling a little jealous of them, wishing that it were Elena and me who were getting married, thinking that it should have been us up there rather than them. I had been happy for them, of course, but I'd still had to push down those feelings of jealousy as I had watched my brother marry the woman that he loved. Now Stefan was dead. They never got their happily ever after, either.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts. I needed to focus on Bonnie right now. I needed to wake her up and make sure that she was okay. I gently shook her. "Bonnie, wake up." She stirred a little. "Come on, Bon-Bon. I need you to wake up." She slowly opened her eyes. When she saw me, a large smile spread across her face.

"Damon?" she asked weakly, sitting up.

"Bonnie!" I exclaimed with relief. "You did it, Bon-Bon. Katherine's dead." I tried to force a small smile, but failed.

"How are you here?" she asked. "Stefan…?"

I shook my head slowly. "Stefan…he injected me with the cure. I thought that I'd compelled him, but he came back and injected me with the cure and then pushed me out of the way. He's the one who sent Katherine back to hell. He sacrificed himself for me." As Bonnie pulled me into a hug, tears streamed down my cheeks. I thought that I'd already cried all the tears that I had, but somehow, they kept coming. I wanted to stop crying, but I couldn't. Being human again sucked when it came to emotions. There was no switch to flip, no way to push back the emotions, like there was when I was a vampire. Bonnie and I sat there together for several minutes while I cried and she held me. She didn't say anything, which I was grateful for. Empty words meant nothing to me right now.

After I was finally able to pull myself together we stood up. "I need to call Ric," I informed her. "I need to let him know that it's safe to come back, and I need to tell Caroline…" my voice trailed off. I didn't want to say it. Saying it would make it real, and I didn't want it to be real. Not yet. Not ever.

Bonnie nodded understandingly. "Do you want me to call him for you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I need to do this." She nodded and walked a few feet away to give me some space. I pulled out my phone and pulled up Ric's number. I took a deep breath and hit the call button.

The phone rang for what seemed life forever before Ric answered. "Hello?"

"We did it, Ric," I told him. "Katherine's dead." Despite my best efforts to sound normal, my voice sounded wooden, even to me. "And Bonnie?" Ric asked. "She's fine," I assured him. "She passed out because of how much strength the spell took, but she's fine."

Ric sounded relieved. "Is it safe to come home?" he asked. I could hear Caroline sobbing in the background and knew then that she had realized Stefan was dead the minute she first heard my voice.

"Yes," I replied, unable to keep my voice from breaking this time. "Come on home, Ric. And tell Caroline…" I paused, fighting to regain control over my emotions. No way was I losing it over the phone when I knew that Caroline could hear me. "Tell Caroline that I'm sorry, and that I'll be waiting for her. Bonnie and I both will be."

After I got off the phone with Ric, Bonnie and I headed back to Mystic Falls, taking the tunnels to the high school. I needed to see Elena. I needed to hold her.

When we reached the school, Matt was still there waiting for us. He greeted Bonnie with a hug, relief evident on his face. She let him know that Alaric and Caroline were safe and on their way back and then asked if Elena was still trapped in the boiler room. Matt nodded, and Bonnie started insisting that she was going to go break the spell that was holding her in there. Matt and I both tried to argue with her. "Bonnie, you need to rest. She'll be fine here until morning. You won't do her any good if you're half dead. I'll stay here with her until morning and then you can break the spell."

Bonnie shook her head. "No, Damon, I can do this. Let me do it," she insisted. Matt and I both relented, knowing that there was no arguing with her, so the three of us made our way down the hall to the boiler room.

When we reached the boiler room, I knelt down next to Elena and cradled her in my arms. "Elena, I'm here," I breathed, even though I knew she couldn't hear me. Bonnie got to work doing her spell and, after a few minutes, nodded at me. I gently picked Elena up.

"I'll drive you home," Matt volunteered. I nodded and Bonnie and I followed him out to his car. Matt opened the door to the back seat and I slid in, still holding Elena. Matt shut the door behind me and then he and Bonnie got in the front. I held Elena's head in my lap on the drive home, stroking her hair. Just having her near me again was a comfort right now.

When we reached the house Matt and Bonnie helped me get Elena out of the car and then I carried her inside. I took her up to my room and laid her gently on my bed. I brushed her hair out of her face and then told Bonnie without turning around, "Let me know when Blondie and Ric get here." I wanted to be alone right now. Bonnie left the room, closing the door behind her.

I sat down on the bed next to Elena and then immediately got back up and started pacing the room. I was angry. Angry at Katherine, angry at Stefan, but most of all, angry at myself. I should have known that Stefan would be on vervain. I should have found a way to make him leave sooner. I should never have told him my plan about the tomb to begin with. It was my fault that he was dead. I'm the older brother; it was my job to take care of him and to keep him safe. How could he have done this to me? How could he have left me? For 150 some odd years I'd taken it for granted that he would always be there and now he was gone. It was my fault. Tears were streaming from my eyes once again, only this time I made no effort to stop them.

I wanted to punch something, but knew that now that I was human, it would actually hurt, so I stopped myself. Instead I sat down on the bed again and looked at Elena. She was so beautiful, even when she was in a mystical coma. I didn't deserve her. She had been Stefan's girl. I should never have fallen in love with her. How was I going to explain to her about Stefan when she woke up? How was I supposed to tell the love of my life that it was my fault that Stefan was dead? What if I never got a chance to tell her? I couldn't bear the possibility of my dying before she woke up. She would be heartbroken. At the same time, though, what would happen if she woke up and I was an old man? She would still be young and beautiful and I would be old and dying.

My thoughts were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "Damon?" Bonnie asked softly. "They're almost here." I sighed as I got up off the bed and opened the door. I stepped out into the hallway and closed it behind me. "You okay?" Bonnie asked.

I shook my head. "Stefan's gone. I don't know that I'll ever be okay," I responded woodenly. I brushed past her and headed downstairs and then went outside to wait on Ric and Caroline.

As soon as Ric's car stopped outside of the house Caroline flew out of the car and into Bonnie's arms. I wanted to look away, knowing that if I watched I would lose what little control I had over my own tears, but I couldn't. In a way, I felt like I deserved the pain caused by watching my brother's wife mourn him.

A few minutes later, Alaric made his way over to me. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but was only able to get out "Ric," before I was once again overwhelmed with emotion. As Ric pulled me into a hug, the tears once again began falling from my eyes. Any other time I would have been embarrassed about crying so much and in front of so many people, but right then I could care less.

After a few minutes, Ric stepped away and Caroline took his place, her own face stained with tears. I saw the wondering look on her face and realized that she heard my heart beating. I looked at her and nodded slightly, confirming what she was asking. Yes, I was human again. As I saw her eyes fill up with tears again I pulled her into my arms, feeling a desperate need to be close to her and to comfort her. She was all that I had left of Stefan.

Caroline and I held on to each other as we cried. I knew that I owed it to her to tell her what Stefan had done, so as we stood there I whispered to her, telling her how it had happened. I felt her smile through her tears as I had told her about how Stefan had sacrificed himself to save Elena, this town, and myself. I felt her cry harder as I told her about how I had searched for Stephan after I woke up, hoping desperately to find him somewhere safe. When I had finished, we both held on to each other a little tighter, neither one of us wanting to let go of our last connection to Stefan.

Our relationship changed that night. No longer was Caroline my girl's annoying best friend and my brother's wife; she was now the only family I had left. We had never been close, but Stefan's death changed that. She had lost Stefan just like me. I knew then and there that she and I would always share a special bond, and I promised myself that I would be there for her for as long as I had, no matter what.

Once we'd cried all the tears that we had I offered Caroline my arm. She took it and we walked inside the house together. Everyone else had gone inside some time before and was waiting for us in the parlor. The twins were now awake, and when they saw Caroline they ran over to her, with Ric walking up behind them a few minutes later. He nodded at me and then gently touched Caroline's back. He told the girls to go get in the car and then asked her, "Do you want me to take you home?"

Caroline looked at me and I knew what she was asking. She wanted to know if it was okay for her to stay here for the night. Of course it was okay. After all, it's technically her house now, too, since she and Stefan were married. I nodded, and she turned back to Ric, shaking her head. "No, I'm going to stay here for tonite, Ric," she told him. He nodded understandingly, said his goodbyes, and then left.

Donovan was the next to leave. He offered Bonnie a ride home and I hoped that she would accept his offer, knowing that if she stayed she wouldn't let me wallow in my misery, but she declined, informing Matt that she was going to spend the night here. I sighed inwardly. Of course she was.

Once Matt had left, I turned to Caroline and Bonnie. "Bonnie, you can take your pick of the guest rooms," I told her, knowing that she would likely choose to stay in the one she used during our time in the prison world. She nodded and went off to go choose her room. I turned my attention to Caroline. "Do you want to stay in a guest room, or do you want to stay in…" I broke off before I finished, afraid that if I said Stefan's name I would lose it all over again.

Caroline reached out a hand and rested it on my arm. "I'll stay in his room, if that's okay with you," she replied gently. I nodded and then immediately left to go to my own room. I didn't want to be around anyone right now. I needed to be alone.

I closed my door and slumped down against it onto the floor. I didn't know what I was going to ever move past this. Stefan was dead. I was never going to see him again, of that I was sure. I had no doubt that he had found peace, but I never would. I'd done too much bad throughout my lifetime to find peace. There was no way I would ever find redemption for everything I'd done. I'd killed people, I'd tortured my brother endlessly, stolen his girl…not just once, but twice, and I'd let my brother die. He was the good one; he always had been. I was the bad one. No matter how hard I'd tried to be good, I always failed. I always ended up letting down the people that I loved.

I spent the next few days in my room, only coming out to refill my supply of bourbon. Caroline and Bonnie both came and checked on my occasionally, probably to make sure I hadn't killed myself. I had considered it, but then I looked at Elena lying peacefully on my bed and I knew that I couldn't go through with it. I couldn't do that to her. Even if she didn't wake up until after I was dead, she had to know that I had waited for her. That I hadn't given up on her.

"Damon?" Caroline said softly, poking her head in the door. I groaned inwardly. Why wouldn't she just leave me alone? "What do you want, Blondie?" I snapped, not getting up from where I sat on the floor, leaning up against my bed, a bottle of bourbon in my hand. Truthfully, I was too drunk to get up. I immediately felt guilty for snapping at her when I saw the hurt look on her face. She had lost him, too; it wasn't fair for me to take it out on her. "Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm drunk."

"I can tell," Caroline replied, wrinkling her nose as walked into my room the stench of alcohol hit her. She stepped into the room. "Damon, you can't do this to yourself," she told me as she sat down next to me. "It's not what Stefan would have wanted."

I offered her the bottle but she pushed it away. "It helps," I mumbled drunkenly. "The pain and guilt come back once it wears off, but it helps for a little while, anyways. It should have been me," I mumbled. "I should have been the one who died that night. You and Stefan were supposed to live happily ever after. I'm the older brother. It was my job to look out for him, to keep him safe."

Caroline placed her hand over my free hand. "You don't need to feel guilty, Damon. There's nothing you could have done to stop him. Besides," she added with a sad smile, "you know how Stefan is. Once he gets it in his mind that he wants to do something, there's no stopping him."

She was right. I knew that it wasn't my fault, and I knew that I couldn't have stopped him, but the sense of guilt still lingered. I don't know that it will ever go away completely. Still, I had to pull myself together. She was right; this wasn't what Stefan would have wanted. He gave up his life so that I could live mine, not so that I could sit around drunk all day. I chuckled sadly, thinking back to the vision that Stefan had given me when Elena had asked him to try and talk me out of taking the cure.

"What is it?" Caroline asked. "What made you laugh?"

I told her about the vision. "The day of Jo and Alaric's wedding Elena asked Stefan to talk me out of taking the cure. He did his best that day to show me how miserable life could be if I became human and things didn't turn out as planned. He got inside my head and gave me a vision of what the future might look like. In it I was a drunk bar owner who was in a miserable marriage because Elena worked all the time, and I resented being human again. He'd get a kick out of seeing how well he'd predicted the future. The only thing he got wrong is that Elena isn't in it."

Caroline smiled as she listened. "You will see Elena again, Damon. You can't give up hope for that," she reassured me.

"Sure, when I'm 80 and old and crippled," I replied sarcastically, making Caroline laugh. "Now, what was it that you came up here for?" I asked, not wanting to talk about Elena or Stefan anymore.

"I wanted to let you know that the plaque was finished today. They installed it in the crypt this morning," she informed me. "The funeral is tomorrow," she added softly.

I nodded. "Thanks for doing all of this, Caroline," I told her sincerely. "I know it hasn't been easy on you, and I haven't exactly been much help."

Caroline's eyes softened. "I understand, Damon," she replied softly. "You two spent over 160 years together. You can't move on from losing someone like that overnight. Not to mention the fact that you've been adjusting to being human again."

I rested my head on my shoulder and she rested her head on top of mine. We sat that way for several minutes in silence before I spoke up. "I'm glad you're here, Blondie," I told her softly. "Stefan was lucky to have you."

The next morning Caroline and I headed to the cemetery together. We wanted a chance to say goodbye to Stefan alone before everyone else joined us. "Are you ready for this?" I asked her as we stood in front of the crypt.

She shook her head, her eyes glistening with tears. "Ready to say goodbye to Stefan? I don't know that I'll ever be ready for that," she replied.

I looked at her and squeezed her hand. I wasn't ready for this either. How could I ever be ready to say goodbye to my little brother? I took a deep breath and then Caroline and I stepped into the crypt together, hand in hand.

Caroline had done a wonderful job designing the plaque. At the top was the Salvatore family crest. Below that was Stefan's name, and underneath was written "Brother-Husband-Friend." The year he was born was below that. At the bottom of the plaque were the words "Now at Peace."

I struggled to hold back the tears that had formed in my eyes as I ran my finger over the word "Peace." "Do you think it exists?" I asked Caroline softly.

"Peace?" Caroline asked. I could hear the unshed tears in her voice. I nodded, and she replied, "I do." She smiled and then added, "We'll see him again."

"You'll see him again," I replied, fighting back against the tears that were threatening to fall. "Me, I'm going the other way. They'll probably reopen hell for me," I joked sadly.

Caroline chuckled softly and shook her head. "Don't be so sure," she replied, smiling sadly at me.

"Hmph," I replied, managing a small grin as I looked at her. We both looked back at the plaque and she brought her free hand up to my shoulder, resting her head on it. She let out a sigh and I brought our clasped hands up to my chest as I rubbed her other arm with my free hand. We stood there for a few minutes, drawing comfort from each other, before she gently pulled away to give me some time alone with Stefan.

"I miss you, brother," I whispered, running my fingers over his name as I heard Caroline open the doors to the crypt. I was surprised when I heard her stop before she had completely exited. She let out a small laugh and I started to turn around, wondering what she was laughing about. As I did so, I heard something that I had thought I'd never hear again. It couldn't be; I had to be imagining things. Still, I had to find out, so I walked hesitantly to the entrance.

As I got closer to the entrance, I saw her. I had to be dreaming; it couldn't be her, could it? Caroline stepped down as I reached the entrance, glancing back at me with a smile on her face as she did so. I blinked, making sure that I wasn't dreaming, but when I opened my eyes she was still there. I knew then that this was real. Elena was really there, and Bonnie was standing right behind her, smiling. I felt my eyes widen in shock. How was she there? She was still supposed to be sleeping due to the spell.

A smile slowly spread across my face as it sunk in. Elena was awake! As I stepped down from the crypt she started towards me. In a couple of large steps, I reached her and pulled her to me. I placed a hand behind her head and kissed her as she placed her hands behind my head. After our lips separated she wrapped her arms around my neck and held on to me as I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her close to me.

My face was once again wet with tears, only this time they were tears of happiness. I finally had Elena back. I felt my shoulder grow wet and knew that she was crying, too. I pulled back slightly and took her face in my hands, wiping her tears away with my thumbs. "I've missed you," I whispered, resting my forehead against hers. "How are you here?"

She smiled. "Bonnie," she replied. "She broke the spell. She knew that you needed me. She didn't want to tell you or Caroline in case it didn't work. The only person who knew was Alaric."

I wanted to stay like that forever, but I knew that there were things I needed to tell her about, such as Stefan's death, Stefan and Caroline's wedding, the fact that I was human again…and Tyler's death. I was afraid of what she would think about me once I told her everything that I had done, but I knew that I needed to tell her. I reluctantly pulled away from her. "Elena, I need to tell you something," I began sadly, trying to find the words to tell her about Stefan. Stefan had been her first love; he had saved her life when her parent's car drove off the bridge, and he had been the one to bring meaning back to her life after her parents had died. Even once they were no longer together they had still cared for each other deeply as friends. How do I go about telling her that he was dead, and that she would never get to see him again?

Elena held a finger up to my lips, stopping me from saying any more. She looked at me sadly. "I know," she said softly. "I saw Stefan when he died. He told me what happened, Damon. We got a chance to say goodbye." She continued, "Damon, he told me what you were willing to do. He told me that you were willing to sacrifice everything to save me and to save this town." She continued, telling me everything that Stefan had told her about why he did it. When she finished, we both were crying.

"Thank you," I whispered. "I needed to hear that." I stopped to clear my throat, trying to get enough control over my emotions to speak. "He's wrong, though. I'm not the better man. He was. I've done a lot of terrible things while you were asleep. I turned off my humanity and became a servant of the devil. I killed Tyler, Elena," I told her, wincing when I saw her eyes widen in shock. "I made Stefan turn off him humanity to serve the devil with me. It was my fault that he was human. He killed Enzo while his switch was flipped, and Bonnie injected Stefan with the cure that she'd drawn from you. Stefan died because of me, Elena. He and Caroline had just gotten married; did he tell you that? Did he tell you that because of me Caroline is now a widow?" I asked her harshly, turning away. I didn't want to be looking at her when she told me what a horrible person I was and how much she hated me for what I had done. I waited for her to yell at me, but she never did. Instead, she gently touched my shoulder and made me turn around.

"Damon, look at me," she insisted. I looked up and she gently placed her hands on either side of my face. "None of that matters now, Damon. It's all in the past. You can't dwell on that. Stefan wanted you to live your life, to find happiness again. He wouldn't want you to blame yourself." I started to shake my head, but she stopped me. "Damon, he forgave you. And so do I. I still love you, Damon Salvatore," she insisted. "Nothing that you can say will ever change that."

"I love you, too," I murmured, pulling her to me and holding her close. I didn't deserve a girl like her. I don't know how she could still love me despite everything that I had done, but I was thankful that she did. I couldn't bear it if I lost her, especially not now. I never wanted to let her go again, but I knew that I wasn't the only one who needed her right now. "I want to hold you forever," I told Elena huskily, "but that will have to wait. Caroline could use her friend right now."

Elena nodded, and, after another quick kiss, went off to find Caroline and Bonnie. I smiled as I watched her walk away. I would have to remember to thank Bonnie later for giving me back my girl. I still couldn't believe that she was actually awake. It all seemed like a dream. "Thank you, brother," I whispered, hoping that wherever he was Stefan could hear me. I still missed him like crazy, but I was thankful that he'd given me this

A few minutes after Elena went off to find Caroline, Alaric arrived. "She's awake, Ric," I informed him, my voice thick with emotion.

He smiled and hugged me. "Bonnie told me that night that she was going to do everything she could to wake Elena up for you and Caroline," he informed me. "Where is she?"

"She's with Caroline," I explained. "I wanted to give them some time to catch up."

Ric nodded. I knew that he was anxious to see her. Elena had been the closest thing that he had to family for the longest time and they shared a special bond. I knew that it hadn't been easy on him, losing her to some mystical coma the same night that he lost Jo. I was glad that Caroline had him and the twins in her life. No one understood what she was going through more than Ric did, and the twins gave her something to live for.

Shortly after Ric arrived, Matt pulled in. I saw Elena heading towards the crypt with Caroline and Bonnie following a distance behind and realized that they wanted to give Elena some time with Matt without an audience, so Ric and I moved over to meet them.

While we watched Matt and Elena's reunion, I moved over to stand by Bonnie. "Thank you, Bonnie," I told her quietly. "I was afraid that I would never see her again."

She nodded and smiled at me sympathetically. "I know," she replied. "That's why I did it. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you before Elena woke up. I didn't want her to wake up and find out that the man she loved and her best friend were both dead," she explained. "I knew after doing the spell that night at the armory that I could break the curse if I set my mind to it."

Once we had given Elena and Matt a few minutes alone, the rest of us joined them in front of the crypt. Together, we said goodbye to Stefan. Before we left, we each left something on the pillar in front of the crypt, just as we had done at Bonnie's funeral all those years ago. I chose to leave my daylight ring. I no longer needed it now that I was human, and it would serve as a symbol of our journey together from human to vampire back to human. I had him to thank for giving me this chance to live my life.


End file.
